The Emperor hurried back to the Tiamat Palace, where the Minister of War Guderian and the Minister of the Navy Dönitz were already waiting in the palace, ready to be summoned and scolded by the Emperor.

Sure enough, they hadn't waited long in the Maduk Chamber before the Emperor angrily pushed open the door and smashed his gloves directly in their faces. "Is this how the two military ministers of the empire defend the empire, and why are the southern legions completely unprepared for the rebellion?"

In the face of the emperor roaring like an angry lion, the two ministers lowered their heads, and neither dared to scold in front of the angry emperor. However, Beria, who was next to the emperor, took the initiative to persuade the emperor because of his special status: "Father, please don't be so angry, the two ministers have been paying attention to the affairs of Hadrian's empire during this time, and it is understandable that they have been negligent in the south. ”

It was good that he didn't speak, and as soon as he opened his mouth, the emperor immediately turned the spearhead at him. The Emperor's beard stood on end in his rage, and when he glared at Beria, the prince felt a fear he hadn't felt for many years. "How are you! After a few years as Minister of the Interior, your tail is cocked, haven't you forgotten who our biggest opponent in the empire is!" It seemed that he felt that just scolding could not completely vent the anger in his heart, and the emperor directly slapped his son in the face.

In the face of the emperor who was as strong as a lion, Beria's fat physique was completely inadequate, and this slap directly knocked Beria's glasses flying, and the dignified second prince and the Minister of the Interior's face was also swollen, but he didn't dare to say a word, he could only cower and lower his head, and he didn't even dare to pick up his glasses.

Even the second prince was taught a lesson by the emperor like this, and the two military ministers did not dare to raise their heads.

Fortunately, in addition to the two military ministers, there is also the Marquis of Metternich, the minister of the seals. Compared with those juniors, the marquis is much more relaxed in the face of the emperor, although the emperor is in anger, but the marquis is one of the few people who can make the emperor speak calmly.

"Your Majesty, this is a proclamation from Prince Pritton. ”

The two military ministers and Beria were terrified to see the blue tendons on the emperor's clenched fists, obviously the anger in the emperor's heart had reached an eruption point, if it wasn't the Marquis de Metternich who said this, probably the emperor would do it directly.

Suppressing his anger, the Emperor grabbed the telegram from the Marquis de Metternich's hand. He quickly swept through it with ten lines, and his face became more and more ugly.

"Michelle, bastard, I'm going to hang him!"

The enraged emperor directly tore up the message.

The two military ministers, with their heads bowed, looked at each other. The Prince of Pryton, Michel VII, who the emperor roared to hang, was the leader of this rebellion, and ironically, the Knoisille family of Prince Pryton was one of the few southern nobles who did not join the rebels in the revolution, and it was precisely because of the strong support of the Knoyer family for the royal family and the empire that the royal family gave the then Duke of Prytown the title of Prince of Pryton, and restrained the nobles in the south who still maintained their fiefdom status after the revolution.

The people in this chamber basically knew about Prince Pritton's rebellion, but the reason for the prince's rebellion and in what name made the two ministers and Beria a little curious. They looked at the telegram torn up by the emperor and guessed what was written on it.

After calming down, the emperor's face was no longer so bad, and the oppressive force emanating from his body was a little less. "Michel complained to me that the Earl of Midnight was a vassal of his de jure domain, that he was unhappy that the royal family had not given him jurisdiction over the County of Midnight, and that I had violated the sacred oath of nobility. Hmph, what an insatiable dog, this time I'm going to make his family can't even be a duke!"

The two ministers and Beria were completely surprised by Prince Pridun's justification for the declaration of war in the previous era, although the southern nobles have always been regarded as stubborn and addicted to the hillbillies of yesterday's dreams and ridiculed by the people of the imperial capital, but a prince is so confused, after the power of the fiefdom nobles has been weakened by the imperial government several times, he still used outdated reasons to raise the flag of rebellion against the empire, which is really incomprehensible.

"For the sake of a midnight county to openly confront the imperial government, even in the last era, few people would do such a foolish thing, and the pay is far greater than the gain. The Marquis of Metternich inadvertently used Swain's words, "I think there must be someone behind him, such a casus belli is ridiculous, I think his purpose is to hold the Empire down, not some midnight county." ”

The Marquis's words immediately reminded those present of the Hadrian Empire, which had been waiting for an opportunity in Silesia recently, and it was a very common strategy to hold back some of the Empire's troops by supporting the Southern Rebellion, and the Southern Rebellion could also explain why the Hadrian Empire was able to sing against the Empire with such confidence this time after the defeat ten years ago.

"Hadrian......" The Emperor tapped his knuckles on the table, even though he had full confidence in the Empire, he had to calculate whether the current forces and financial resources could support the Empire's two-front battle.

In the silence of the chamber, the Prime Minister, Earl William Noe Pitt, who had not been present, finally arrived in a hurry.

Seeing the appearance of William Pitt Jr., the emperor's anger was hooked again. He snorted, looked at the Prime Minister with great dissatisfaction, and said, "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, you are late. ”

His Excellency, the Prime Minister, who was not very good-looking, did not care about the emperor's ridicule, but reported another shocking news: "I have just received a telegram from the Kingdom of Leon asking for help, and there are signs of a large-scale build-up of the Mahdia Empire's fleet in the port of Cordodi across the Lonnal Strait, and at the same time, the Mahdian Empire has also issued an official declaration of war to the Kingdom of Leon, declaring that it will wage a holy war against Leon and retake the Badajoz Peninsula. ”

Prime Minister Pitt's remarks immediately shocked several ministers. The Mahdiya Empire and Prince Pridun, acting almost simultaneously, were apparently in collusion. The protectorate of the empire, the Kingdom of Leon, controls the entire Badajoz Peninsula and chokes the Rannal Strait, the throat of the Sea of Conquerors into the Leviathan Ocean, and its strategic location is extremely important, and the most important thing is that the Kingdom of Leon is located in the south of the Empire, north of the southern territory of the Empire, which is now in rebellion. Once the kingdom of Leon was defeated by the Mahdian Empire, the southern rebels would open the way for the Mahdian Empire, and the infidel armies would drive the Empire straight in, and their troops would even be directed towards the Imperial Capital.

Thinking of this crucial point, several ministers were almost bloodless, especially the Admiralty Wilhelm No. Dönitz-Rundstedt, who was passed through the Lonnal Strait by the Mahdia Empire, and this responsibility was absolutely borne by him.

Chancellor Dönitz's first reaction was to deny the news, he did not believe it and did not want to believe that it was true. "This can't be, it's impossible for those desert people's antique fleets to pass through the blockade of the Imperial Navy, and there are Imperial ...... on the Sea of Conquerors," he said, and he immediately thought that the Southern Fleet of the Imperial Navy, which was responsible for controlling the Sea of Conquerors, was stationed in the port of Nantes in Pritown.

"Is there any news about the Southern Legion? Did the commander of the Southern Legion report the rebellion?" Although the emperor is often irritable when he gets bad news, it doesn't mean that he will lose his cool. In this difficult situation both internally and externally, he maintained the coolness necessary for a monarch.

"There was no news from Baron Fairfax. War Minister Reinhard No. Guderian replied that if news had come, he would not have to be scolded by the emperor.

"In other words, is it very likely that the Southern Legion will surrender to the enemy, or will it not be able to become our fighting force?" muttered the Emperor, although he was resolute, it was extremely difficult for him to accept such a major blow as losing the whole of the South and Leon, not to mention that the Hadrian Empire was still eyeing Silesia. The emperor suddenly found that the empire he had run for most of his life was now suffering from a huge crisis that he had not encountered in hundreds of years since the founding of the country, and the two most powerful countries in the world except for the Siliul Empire were encroaching on the empire's sphere of influence, and the largest army and a quarter of the territory of the empire had raised the flag of rebellion, and the threat of war was like a large net, which had been placed in all his retreats.

The Emperor slammed his fist on the table, silently pondering. The others did not speak, and a suffocating silence fell in the chamber.

"No matter what, defeat the rebels in the south first, and never let the empire be divided!" After pondering for a long time, the emperor made a decision. Although Prime Minister Pitt did not read the original text of Leon's message for help to him just now, it is not difficult for the Emperor to imagine how helpless the Leon people would be in the face of a sudden declaration of war. In front of the Mahdia Empire, which controlled the entire Red Earth Continent, the Kingdom of Leon was nothing more than a baby, and without the help of the Empire, they would not have survived a month at the hands of the desert people. For the Leones, whose protector Cyruel was now their only hope, and only a mighty imperial army could hold off the pagan invaders, the Emperor could well imagine the tone and wording of the Leones' pathetic tone and language in their telegrams.

However, Leon is not the territory of the empire after all, nor is it as important as the southern territory, and the emperor will never tolerate traitors and the division of the empire.

"Guderian, how many troops does the Empire have that can be deployed if the Southern Legion can't be contacted?"

"180,000 standing troops are fighting for you, Your Majesty. ”

Hearing this number, the emperor can at least be a little relieved, maybe 180,000 people are not enough to support the empire and Hadrian, Mahdia and the rebels to fight on three sides, but at least there is no problem in pacifying the south, the most important thing now is that the Mahdia Empire must preemptively quell the rebellion in the south before the Mahdia Empire defeats the Kingdom of Leon and controls the Badajoz Peninsula, otherwise after opening up the transportation lines on the road, the Mahdia Empire can easily support the southern rebels.

"Dönitz, I'll give you a chance to make amends for your mistakes. You have mobilized the Empire's Leviathan fleet to blockade the Rannal Strait and the entire Sea of Conquerors, our navy is the strongest in the world, and the desert man and Hadrian are no match for us, and we will never let a single infidel soldier come over!"

"Yes, the sea belongs to Siliul!" said Admiral Dönitz, who had escaped, relieved and glad. His Majesty Nicholas I, though he had a bad temper and was particularly fond of scolding his ministers when he received bad news, sometimes with fists and kicks, at least he never inflicted other severe punishments on his subordinates after beating and scolding.

"The War Office is at once making plans to quell the rebellion, and I will see it tonight. ”

"Do your will, Your Majesty. ”

The Emperor was resolute in assigning tasks one by one, and although he had received almost no good news in the past six months, and all the bad problems had erupted today, it did not break the lion of the empire, on the contrary, these challenges made him more energetic.

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The Marquis of Metternich did not receive any assignment, after all, he was now only the Minister of the Seals, and he was only an idle position. When he got home, he quickly brought his grandson over, Franz was also the secret of the protocol department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although it was unlikely that he would be involved in this war, but at least he was qualified to know these things.

After hearing a series of bad news from his grandfather, Franz was immediately shocked by the terrible situation facing the Empire, which even if it was the world's most powerful country, he feared that it would suffer.

"It seems that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is going to do a good job in the Telegraph Department for a long time. Franz sighed, once the war started, the ministers had to go home, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could only serve as a mouthpiece, at least in the early days of the war, the diplomats had little chance to show their talents.

"The canonization of the Earl at midnight was also postponed. ”

"Who cares about that now. Although he wasted a lot of effort on this matter before, but in the face of the national crisis, Franz was no longer interested in the affairs of the Jericho family.

However, when he noticed that his grandfather's gaze had been fixed on him, Franz immediately felt that something was wrong. Was that sentence wrong? Franz was not panicked when his grandfather looked at him like this, but he couldn't think of a reason.

"I have made a proposal to Your Majesty to withdraw the order to the Minister in the Papal States. ”

Franz didn't react right away, he thought about it for a while before he understood the point. "Is it Viscount Jericho who gave the sword? You mean, we can't provoke the Pope anymore now, lest he think that we want to suppress the clergy of the Church and force him into a hostile camp?"

The Marquis nodded. "It can't be said that he is being forced to be hostile, and now our situation is too bad for the Pope. Although the Pope could not openly support the Mahdian Empire because of its pagan beliefs, it was possible to frame us secretly, as may have been the case with Hadrian's Empire. They did not choose to march on the Silesians at this time, because they did not want to be perceived as having reached a mutual agreement with the infidels. ”

"But after that, didn't they do the same? they still sided with the infidels!"

The Marquis glared at Franz and immediately frightened him back into retraction. "As long as they don't show a tacit understanding with the desert people, then they are not their allies, so they don't give us the excuse to attack them. You say yes to the reason, but if you want the reason to be useful, you have to make others think it is!"

"Yes......" was lectured by the Marquis again, and Franz couldn't speak loudly.

Looking at his unproductive grandson, the marquis sighed helplessly.

"However, I don't know what will happen to the Jericho family this time. The Marquis sighed, and the look in his eyes was very complicated.

"Jericho?" Franz looked at the Marquis puzzled.

"I didn't tell you before that the reason for Prince Pritown's declaration of war this time was to retake the de jure territory of Midnight Fort and Midnight Earl. ”

"What, he can use this as a pretext for a declaration of war?" Franz was also very surprised by this casus belli, "is he old and confused?"

The Marquis glared at Franz again, and poor Franz retracted his head again.

"If he is an old fool, then how can the lords of the south listen to him? If it is not for the Mahdia Empire's attack on Leon, forget it, don't you see it now? Prince Pridun's behavior is obviously supported by the desert people, and maybe they have even colluded together recently. Prince Pritton's reason is absurd, but at least it works, and besides, with the desert man backing him up behind his back, and the Hadrian shouting at him, no matter how ugly the reason is, it can be valid!"

After being taught twice in a row by his grandfather, Franz's train of thought was finally opened. "So, maybe this reason was used by Prince Pritown when he really had no other reason to declare belli?"

Hearing Franz's judgment of barely passing, the Marquis finally nodded and agreed with his words. "Yes, in my opinion, Prince Pritton's rebellion was hasty. ”

"But the Southern Legion is controlled by them, although there is no information that the Southern Legion has clearly joined Prince Pritown's side, but the Southern Legion has not reported such a big matter as the Southern Rebellion, and it is obvious that it has completely escaped the control of the Empire!"

"The problem you are talking about is also a headache for the emperor. We didn't discuss all afternoon what reason the Southern Legion had to collectively betray the Empire. ”

The Marquis sighed, he didn't quite believe in the Southern Legion's collective betrayal of the Empire. The betrayal of some high-ranking officers is possible, but the Southern Army is so large that even the commander of the Southern Army, Baron Fairfax, cannot make an order that can make the entire Southern Army join him on the side of Prince Pritown, there will always be people who will disobey the order, not to mention that the emperor and the War Department will not be less installed in the Southern Army.

"I always feel that this rebellion has helped Count Jericho. Franz suddenly sighed.

Although Franz said it unintentionally, when the words were heard in the ears of the Marquis, he always felt that something was faintly wrong.